Sunday, 3 October 2010

- AJ -

My arm? No space. Maybe on my neck? Nah, wouldn’t fit. Ooooh, maybe my ass?

“AJAAAAY!” Nick came rushing in my hotel room, disturbing my decision for the next location of my new tattoo.

“What the fuck, Nick!” I jumped from the edge of my bed. Damn that kid.

“Oh my Gooood! Oh my Gooood! I gotta tell you something!” Nick shouted.

I covered my ears. “Nick… calm the FUCK down!”

Nick held his breath for five seconds and then sat down next to me, releasing the breath. I felt the mattress going up and down as he sat. He was still bouncing from whatever he’s so damn excited about.

“Alright, Howie just came up to me and told we’re signed up for a project.”

I blinked my eyes. “A project?”

“Yeah!” Nick said with the goofiest smile I’ve ever seen. “You see, it’s some sort of exchange project. Fans can send us a message through the fanclub and say what they study or what they do for a living. Then, if we like the mentioned education or job, one of us is being sent to the place the fan lives, and then we get to get a taste of their lives for a month!”

“Whoa, whoa. Hold on there, buddy. What?!” I said in disbelief.

“Well…” he was fidgeting with his fingers. “We already received some messages and already picked a thing for each of us.”

I blinked once more but this time several times. I felt my vein pumping in my neck.

“And who the hell says I want to participate in that?” I said, trying to remain calm.

Nick was still staring at his hands. “Umm… you don’t have a choice. There’s a contract signed.”

“WHAT?!” I exclaimed and rose to my feet. If looks could kill, Nick would’ve already been buried in my fucking backyard.

He sunk down, obviously scared by my tone.

“The idea is that celebrities get out of their… eh… celeb-life and experience what it’s like to live a ‘normal’ life. Besides, they can get closer to their fans. Howie thought it would be a great idea since we don’t have any major plans in the future.”

I breathed in slowly, my nostrils getting bigger than Brian’s. “And nobody discussed this with me before Howie decided to sign that damn contract?!"

“He thought you’d agree. Brian agrees too,” Nick said carefully.

I straightened up, closed my eyes and pinched the bridge of my nose. A few seconds later my mind had cleared and I decided it couldn’t be that bad. It could be fun.

I hoped so.

I finally sighed. “Alright. Let’s do it. Where do we gotta go? Cali? Florida? Washington?” I said and looked at Nick. He stared with eyes wide open at me. He probably thought I was going to rip his head off or something.

Nick stopped staring and coughed. “Actually, it’s not in the USA.”

Something inside of me snapped. Stay calm, Alex. Stay calm. St… “SON OF A BITCH!” I screamed. I felt my vein in my neck again. I smacked my fist on the nightstand.

“Don’t say we’re going to South-America,” I rose my finger when I saw he was about to say something. “If so, I rather jump off this fucking hotel and kill myself right away.”

“Europe.”

“What?”

“We’re going to Europe.”

My eyebrows rose in surprise. I reconsidered the idea of going to Europe. Depended where.

“Where?” I inquired.

“I told you; in Europe.”

I took a deep breath before I lost my patience. “Where in Europe?”

“Oh, right. The Netherlands.”

I let out a breath of relief. Some European fans were nearly as crazy as the South-American. Other European fans were pretty… rational. Like the ones in The Netherlands.

Nick looked relieved as well. I almost felt sorry for the poor man. But then I realized he just agreed with Howie’s stupid plan without considering to discuss it with me first.

I was still shooting daggers with my eyes at him.

“So… that means you’re in for the game?”

I nodded. “Sure. The sooner I get there, the sooner it’s over.”

“Great. I’ll go tell Howie,” Nick smiled, back in his hyper mood. “Oh, by the way,” he said, his body sticking half out the door, “I’ll get to go to The Netherlands too. Party time!” Then he slammed the door shut. I think I actually heard him skip through the hall.

Wait… Nick is going to the same country? We’ll be in the same plane? For 8 hours? Without Howie to stop him from acting like a total annoying pain in the ass?

Shit.

Sunday, 14 November 2010 – 8.00 am.

- AJ -

I dropped my bag onto the ground as I arrived at the gate at the John F Kennedy International airport in New York. I slumped down in one of the chairs and got out a magazine out of my bag that I bought in one of the shops.

I would have never thought I’d ever go to that tiny ass country without a concert or promotion planned.

Nick told me the day after he announced Howie’s oh so brilliant idea, where exactly in The Netherlands we were going and what we were going to do. Apparently, we are staying over at a guest’s home somewhere in the East. And that guest happens to be a fan.

Whoohoo...

Unfortunately, Nick and I will be staying over at the same guest’s home.

Awesome...

And my job? Deliver brochures and newspapers to the door. Yes, to the door. I have to get on a bike (a BIKE) and deliver them around in this neighborhood.

Unfortunately, it’s not in a cool city like Amsterdam or Rotterdam.

Instead, we’ll be going to this totally unknown city (If you can call it a city. I did some research. It’s too tiny for a city but apparently it’s got a city law). On the other hand it’s a good thing. Less chance of being recognized and being chased by giggling fans. That’s the last thing I needed while delivering all that crap.

I mean, I have to get on a bike. Nick was cracking up when he saw the look on my face after I read my assignment.

But my mood lightened up when Nick read and told his assignment.

He has to go to a fucking school! And guess what he’s going to study for? A secretary! Well, executive secretary is the official word. But can you imagine Nick sitting behind a desk all flipping day? That kid is so incredibly ADHD. That task will be impossible for him. Come to think he has to do all these boring things. Phoning is probably going all wrong, he’ll just call to Brian and chat away with him (and be confronted with a big ass bill for calling from The Netherlands to a foreign country). Then, he’d just chase after every single girl (I’m thinking of stereotype hot secretaries now).

Oh, I forgot to tell that Brian is going to Japan. Why him? Oh right, because he’s Japan’s cuddly bear. He’s going to work at a sushi restaurant.

I’ll say two words: NOT FAIR.

Howie is going to Canada to… Saskatchewan. I forgot the exact name of the town he’s going to, it’s just as weird as the name of the state. Anyway, he’s going to a university to study International Business Administration.

I think I’m pretty happy with my current assignment, though I’d trade with Brian for anything. Nick and Howie can stay studying.

My thoughts were rudely interrupted by Nick flopping down on the seat next to me. He gave me a big smile before attacking a bag of M&M’s. I focused back to the magazine only to feel an M&M hitting my temple.

I put the magazine firmly down on my lap. “Nick, could you please behave and, for once, act like a mature 30 year old man?”

I heard him snickering next to me, then I heard the cracking sound of the bag and Nick continued eating.

I put the magazine away when right after, our flight was announced.

Well, here we go.

-------------------

3.50 pm – Amsterdam Airport, The Netherlands.

I was standing at the baggage claim together with Nick. Nick’s suitcases were one of the first but mine still had to come. The baggage kept coming and coming. But none of them were mine.

I kept looking around me anxiously, waiting for a group of fans to run up to us. But it hadn’t happened till now, and we were standing here for ten minutes or so.

I had pleaded Nick to bring at least Q with us but the whole point of that stupid project was that we came unprotected like normal people. I was born normal. The fans were the ones that were sometimes not normal, to say it lightly. I felt like a zebra thrown in a cage full of lions. Did those project people want us dead?

“Hey J, there’s your junk,” Nick pointed at two black suitcases finally coming out.

“It’s not my junk,” I glared at him while lifting one suitcase off the claim. Nick helped me and took the other.

“I can’t believe we couldn’t at least bring someone to carry our suitcases,” Nick whined. He also disagreed with the whole ‘no bodyguard’- part but didn’t seem to worry about it as much as I did, which is weird ‘cause he’s the most popular one.

“Stop whining. I probably have to carry packages of brochures and what more for an entire month,” I grunted.

We came to the exit, turned left and saw two sliding doors separating. Finally, we had arrived in the welcome hall.

I was still busy changing my grip on the suitcases when Nick said, “that should be our welcoming committee,” and took off.

I turned my head and saw a man in his early 40s and a redhead in her early 20s. She held a banner in front of her with “AJ & NICK” in big neon orange letters.

An image of Brian and Leighanne in neon orange shirts flashed through my mind.

I followed after Nick, carrying my ridiculously heavy suitcases after me.

“Hi! Welcome to Holland!” the girl smiled widely, putting the banner down as she reached out to hug Nick. Nick hugged her back, returning the smile.

“Welcome to you too!” she said, the same big smile, arms already spread. I let go of the handles on my suitcases and returned the hug. “My name’s Isabel by the way,” she said.

I took my sunglasses off. “AJ, but I guess you figured,” I smiled.

“If Nick wasn’t walking up to us, I wouldn’t even have recognized you. You guys are so heavily disguised,” she said with a disapproving look. “You should finally stop hiding yourself behind those sunglasses, no matter how they serve as accessories.”

Well, she sure as hell wasn’t afraid to be blunt. At least she wasn’t shy or giggling constantly.

The man came up to us and shook our hands. “Welcome, my name’s Erik. With a K.”

“Nick. With C-K," he joked.

I could just refrain from rolling my eyes at him. “AJ," I said as I shook his hand.

I don’t know why but I liked the man right away. He had this laid back thing going on. He had two earrings in his left ear, a light stubble and gray, short spikey hair. He had a small beer belly too.

The girl on the other hand had straight, dark red hair. About 5’8 and big boobs. Hey, I’m a boob man, don’t blame me.

The man took a suitcase of each of us so we only had to carry one of our own. I was walking next to Erik as Isabel was behind us chattering away with Nick.

“So, had a good flight?” Erik asked.

“It was okay. Better than I thought,” I replied.

“Why?”

“Nick can act like a five year old stuck in the body of a 30 year old man. I was afraid he would pull pranks on me or try to annoy me in any other way. He has actually behaved really good.”

Erik grinned. “He can probably get along well with my sons.”

“You got sons?”

“Yeah, two. One’s nine and the other’s ten. They are incredibly energetic, especially the youngest one. At the moment, he’s being tested for ADHD. The oldest one is a bit quieter but has a knowledge of cussing that I try to get him rid of.”

“How come he’s cussing so much?”

“Bad environment back at his mom’s,” he muttered.

I supposed he’s divorced then. I wondered if Isabel was his biological daughter or not. They sure as hell didn’t look like eachother.

And come to think, if he was trying to get his son rid of all the cussing, I had to decrease my cussing as well.

Fuuuuuuuck. There, that felt good. At least I can cuss in thoughts.

After walking for five minutes in the huge parking garage, we stopped at a dark blue van. Erik pulled the back door open and put the suitcases he carried in first. After that he took mine and then Nick’s.

“You guys can sit in the back,” Erik informed us. He opened the door to the driver’s seat while Isabel already sat next to him in the passenger seat. She looked like she was about to explode from excitement.

I hopped in behind Isabel and Nick behind Erik. I opened up my bag, got out a bottle of Cola and took a big gulp.

“How long till we’re there?” Nick asked impatiently while leaning forward.

“One and a half hour,” Isabel enthused.

“Holy crap, one and a half hour to go from one side of the country to the other? Cool!” Nick said with eyes as round as saucers.

I put my hands behind my head and relaxed. Staying in a small country for a month could be fun.

AJ

We were driving through a neighborhood filled with terraced houses. They all looked like eachother. How were they able to find their house back? They were all white with a red roof. Except the front yards were different. A few were maintained well, others looked like crap.

After looking at all the similar houses, we came to a halt.

“We’re there!” Isabel squealed and immediately jumped out of the car.

Nick and I looked at eachother. I think we were both thinking the same thing.

She has been excited and hyper for a good couple of hours in a row. That’s longer than Nick has ever been.

And that says something.

I opened the door and got out. I inhaled deeply, only to feel a cold wind smacking me right in the face.

“Holy horse shit!” I shrieked and wrapped my arms around me. I looked at the ground.

There was a light layer of snow on the street.

Snow. In Holland. Last time I was in this country, we only had rain but it wasn’t this cold yet.

Isabel noticed me staring incredulously at the ground.

“I thought you guys had snow in some parts of the USA,” she mocked while lifting one of our suitcases out of the trunk.

“Hey, McLean. Stop acting like a wuss and help us carry the suitcases! You’re letting a lady drag one of your junk now!” Nick yelled, already walking towards the front door.

“Nick, you little shit. It’s not my junk!” I yelled back.

“Hey, watch your language, will ya? I got two little stepbrothers here. They might not speak English as well as me, but they pick up words. Especially words like you blurt out. And carry this one yourself. Like Nick said, I’m a lady,” Isabel said, put my suitcase down, pulled the back door down and walked away, swinging her hair over her shoulder.

Well, isn’t she a feisty one.

Wait. Did a, oh let’s say, 22 year old woman – correction: fan - just told me to watch my language?! And I didn’t have a comeback?

Screw me.

I shove some snow away with my foot in annoyance and marched to my suitcase. I lifted it up and stumbled after her to the front door.

Before I knew it, a big black Labrador jumped against me. I yelped and fell on my back on the snowy cold ground. So much for a warm welcome.

The dog licked my face with its front paws on my chest.

“BONO!” I heard Isabel yell. I saw her hovering over me, grabbing the dog at the scruff of the neck and pulling it away from me.

I wiped the dog drool off of my face with my sleeves and finally got up.

“I’m so sorry for Bono. He’s way too happy for his own good,” she looked apologetically at me but I could see she bit her lower lip to stifle a laugh.

Nick, on the other hand, paid no effort in stifling any laugh. He stood there, in the hallway, laughing his balls off, wiping tears from his cheeks.

I grabbed my suitcase again and stamped inside. Isabel got in right after me with the dog. It’s a good thing I’m a sucker for big dogs otherwise I’d swear like a motherfucking trooper.

Isabel passed me by and put the dog into the living room. “How about we bring your junk to the guest room right away?”

I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. First Nick and now Isabel?! What is it with these people calling my suitcases junk? IT’S NOT JUNK!

However, if Nick would’ve said this, I’d kick his ass. I kept quiet when she said it but my jaw tightened nevertheless.

Erik already came from upstairs. “I already brought two upstairs!”

Hey, this man was quicker and stronger than me.

Beaten by an old guy. Wait, I’ll take that back. I was probably about 10 years shy from his age.

And he had more hair on his head than me. Ouch.

Nick put one foot on the stairs but Erik stopped him. “Let me take that.”

“No, it’s okay. I can take this,” Nick smiled politely.

“You’re the guests. Besides, you’ll have enough
work on your hands for the entire month,” he grinned.

I grunted. An entire month.

Eventually, Nick gave in and handed him his suitcase. Erik went upstairs and came back not long after, taking my suitcase.

“I will show you where you’ll be sleeping,” Isabel said and walked in front of Nick upstairs. While going upstairs I saw Nick gawking at her ass.

I pinched his leg.

“What was that for?” he whispered annoyed.

“Stop staring, Carter,” I grinned.

We arrived in the corridor. It wasn’t that big but I shouldn’t expect houses like the ones I live in. These were ‘normal’ people after all.

Isabel turned right and led us in a room. It was pretty big. It could’ve been smaller.

I saw one bed standing in the left corner and another bed on the other side of the room in the right corner. The walls were painted a bright blue, the ceiling was a plain white. It looked just fine.

“SHOTGUN!” Nick shouted and jumped on the bed in the right corner. “Ha! This one’s mine now!”

“What does it matter? Both beds are the same,” Isabel rolled her eyes. Then her eyebrows lifted as if she thought of something. “Be right back.” And she went out of the room.

Five seconds later she came back with a tiny pillow. But not just some pillow.

It was a BSB pillow. With Nick on one side and all of us guys, including Kevin, on the other.

“Here, to mark your territory,” Isabel said and threw the pillow right in Nick’s face. He took the pillow and looked at it. His eyebrows rose the same way Isabel’s just did.

“Am I your favorite?” he said with sparkling eyes.

“No. I bought this secondhand and didn’t even know you were on it,” she said, wrinkling her nose.

Nick looked at her in disbelief. “Who doesn’t love me?” he said, playing cool but I could see he was secretly hurt that this time this girl wasn’t drooling all over his shitface.

In your face, Nick.

“Aren’t you cocky,” she scowled.

“Then who is your favorite?” Nick said, now beginning to get really curious. Then he groaned. “It’s not AJ, right?”

“Hey, there’s nothing wrong with me! I don’t have an ego that’s too big to fit in this world, unlike you,” I scolded.

Nick ignored me. “Who?”

She crossed her arms. “Howie.”

Nick and I both snorted at the same time.

“Howie?! For real? He’s like the oldest out of all of us and you pick Howie? The uptight, bossy , ‘don’t mess with me otherwise I’ll pull a Robert DeNiro’ Howie?” Nick said.

She squinted her eyes at Nick. “The sweet, adorable, non-ego and mature Howie, thank you very much,” with that she turned and walked away. I saw her glancing my way for a split second but then returned to, what I assumed, her bedroom.

“You’ll get along real good, I can see that now!” Erik chirped and went downstairs.

I walked into the room and sat down on the leftover bed.

I saw Nick sitting, his face screwed up in thoughts.

“’Sup?” I asked while opening one of my suitcases.

“C’mon AJ! Howie! Why Howie?”

“Well, not all girls fall for blondes. In fact, dark haired guys are much hotter,” I smirked.

He sniffed. “No way in hell. I’m the cute and adorable one, remember?”

“No, you were cute and adorable when you were a little pipsqueak. Now you’re seen as a sex symbol and our grown up fans are having naughty dreams about you. You still got the annoying factor though. And you can’t seem to get rid of your immature behavior.”

“Wow AJ, that really hurt my feelings,” Nick retorted sarcastically. “For your information, what was that, when you were bouncing on the bed in the hotel room with Brian?”

I ignored him. Hey, I still have to enjoy things like that while I can, alright? Before you know it, I’m too old for that.

“Hey, let’s meet the other family members,” Nick suddenly said distracted, and jumped off from the bed and practically skipped out of the room.

I shook my head, refreshed myself and took off downstairs.

When I reached the hallway, I looked out for the dog, apparently named Bono.. No big black dog in sight. Good.

I took one step forward when I heard paws tapping on the floor.

Oh no.

Once again, Bono jumped against me except this time I was prepared, so I just stood steady on my feet.

“Hi there, buddy!” I broke into a smile. I couldn’t help it. I told you I was a sucker for big dogs.

I scratched the thing behind his ear.

“You should scratch him on his chest.”
I looked behind me and saw Isabel standing on the last few stairs.

“Why?”

“He loves it. See what he does when you’ll do it,” she smiled. For the first time, I saw her actually smiling a full smile. She had a great smile.

I focused my attention back to the dog. I moved my hand to the chest and scratched.

His head tilted sideward and I saw one of the back legs tapping the floor like a rabbit! I cracked up, not expecting this reaction.

I could already predict I’d do this to him a lot.

“AJ!” Nick came running out of the kitchen.

“What?”

“WE’RE GONNA HAVE FRIEEEES! DUTCH FRIEEEES!” he shouted excitedly. “Isabel’s mom is frying them already! Can you smell it?” Nick looked about to pop.

I smelled. “They don’t smell any different from the fries back home.”

Nick looked disappointed about the fact I wasn’t participating in his hyper game about fries.

“In fact, I bet the fries aren’t much different from ours.”

Nick’s face completely darkened. “You’re no fun.” Then walked back into the kitchen.

Isabel was standing next to me now. “You guys are quite a couple, aren’t you?” she chuckled.

“We’re not a couple,” I defended myself as I followed her in the living room.

I looked around. It wasn’t big… at all. On the left side there were two couches, a tv and a small table. On the right side there was a dinner table, a big closet, a sideboard and… a rat cage.

“You got a rat?” I said, not noticing two nutheads fooling around on the couch.

“Yeah, it’s my sister’s. It’s getting old though, I think we gotta replace it soon,” Isabel replied. “Wanna see?”

“Nah, thanks,” I said backing away a bit. I preferred dogs.

Suddenly, a pillow hit flat in my face. I blinked my eyes a few times when I noticed one of the nutheads threw them.

They were very small, both blonde hair, one of them a shade lighter than the other. They were almost the same length, both skinny.

And both incredibly hyper.

I took the pillow, walked over to the smallest one of them and smacked him in the face.

“Whoa!” the little guy said and fell on the couch. He shouted something in Dutch to me. Not in an angry way, more like an enthusiastic, even more hyper way.

He pointed at me, jumping on the floor while rambling to his brother.

I shook my head.

“You can sit down. It’s not a good idea goofing around with those two,” Erik said and shove a chair back with his feet. I saw him smoking a cigarette.

“You’re allowed to smoke here?” I was the one getting excited now.

“Yup. Me and my wife both smoke. Feel free to do so whenever you want to,” he nodded.

“Thank God!” I praised and got my package of cigarettes and a lighter out of my jacket and happily lit one. When I exhaled the smoke, I sighed satisfied.

I really, really like this guy.

“You got a whole bunch of tattoos there,” Erik said, examining my arms and hands. “Not exactly what you’d expect from a boyband guy.”

In the meanwhile, Isabel joined the table. “Erik!” she scowled, then turned to me. “Sheesh, don’t mind my stepdad.”

Ok, so they weren’t father and daughter.

“It’s ok,” I grinned and turned back to Erik. “I didn’t want to look like Brian.”

“Brian?” Erik asked.

Isabel sighed and rolled her eyes.

“Oh right, another member of your boyband,” Erik said to me.

Isabel looked about to sink through the floor from embarrassment. I found this whole situation pretty hilarious.

I coughed. “Actually, we call ourselves a vocal harmony group.”

“Why?” It was Isabel this time. “I mean, don’t you think it sounds a little gay? I mean, harmony,” she snorted. “I don’t want to insult you, but when I hear the word harmony, I think of pretty green grassfields with fluffy white bunnies, butterflies and little happy children frolicking around, singing happy songs.”

My mouth practically hung open. Nick was standing in the doorway, bursting in laughter.

I didn’t know what to say. That was the umpteenth time in a short time she was blunt, and I was speechless.

And I liked it.

Nick joined our table as well. “Great description! High-five!” he said and high-fived her.

I closed my mouth and straightened myself. “But we’re not exactly a boyband anymore either.”

She snorted again. “If Westlife’s still a boyband, you guys are too. You sing happy pop songs, which I’m not including the Never Gone and Unbreakable era, doing happy dance routines and looking… boyband-ish.”

I blinked my eyes. How many times have I blinked my eyes since I’m in this country?

Nick leaned his forehead on the table and practically laughed his hair off.

Isabel looked at him in appreciation.

“You’re a boyband. Helloooo, which host or hostess would say “Let me introduce you to the vocal harmony group etcetera etcetera?” She looked at me like I was crazy.

I had no words. I just thought about her words. Maybe it did sound gay. I’d have to discuss this with Brian and Howie.

Later.

Not long after, Isabel’s mom came in with a bowl that oozed fries. When she put it down in the middle of the table, I looked down and my stomach made noises instantly.

Isabel went after her mom into the kitchen, and came back with a pile of plates and put them down in front of each of us.

Erik said something to the little guys what I could only guess that they had to come for dinner.

“Now, we bought hamburgers, specially for you. But you also gotta taste some Dutch fried snacks,” Isabel said excitedly.

Her mom came back in, putting the tableware in front of us.

The little guys, as I will call them from now on, joined the table as well. Guess what? They sat on each side of me, smirking at me with their tiny teeth.

I wonder if this meant trouble.

“Isabel, you said you had a sister?” Nick asked as casual as possible but I knew he was trying to fish some information.

“Yeah?” she replied, filling her plate with fries, after Nick and I did.

“I haven’t seen her around,” he said.

“Liz will come home in two hours or so. She’s been at her boyfriend’s place all day and is staying there for dinner,” she replied. “Her name’s actually Marie-Elise. Marie with ie, not y. But everybody calls her Liz for short.”

I saw Nick’s face turn disappointed when she mentioned the word ‘boyfriend’. Isabel saw it too.

“She’s younger than me, you know,” she smiled.

“How old?” I asked, pure out of normal interest. Unlike Nicky boy here.

“Nineteen.”

Nick choked on a fry. I could read his mind; he was aiming for a nineteen year old girl. Poor guy.

Oh wait, no. He deserves that for after laughing at me.

“How old are you then?” I kept asking.

“Twenty two,” she said, mouth full.

I knew it!

Nick rose his head suddenly, looking at her.
In the meanwhile, Isabel’s mom finally joined us, eyeing the little guys suspiciously.

“Oh, I haven’t had the chance to introduce myself yet. My name’s Kenza,” she said and shook my hand. “I already know yours. Isabel wouldn’t stop talking about you guys when she got the message you were visiting,” her mom said as she shook Nick's hand.

“Mom!” Isabel whispered and lowered her head to avoid our looks.

Kenza just grinned and turned her attention back to Nick and me. “It took a while before Erik and I agreed, of course. We don’t exactly have a very big house. And we get those two every other weekend as well.” She pointed at the little guys.

“They don’t live here?” Nick asked this time.

“Nope, they live at their mom’s,” Kenza replied.

“I remember Erik said you and him are trying to get the oldest rid of the swearing? And that would be because of the bad environment at their mom’s?” I said, but then realized I might got a little nosy now.

However, she still answered me.

“Yeah. Their mom lives in some sort of ‘ghetto’. It’s different from the ghettos in America though but the neighborhood isn’t exactly a good influence for the kids,” Kenza explained.

“Well, I already told AJ here that he has to watch his language. The boys pick up words quite quickly,” Isabel remarked, recovered from her moment of embarrassment.

“That’s good,” she nodded, then got up and went back into the kitchen.

“She’s going to get the hamburgers and Dutch snacks out of the deep fryer,” Isabel said getting excited again.

Short after, Kenza returned and put another bowl down. I looked in it; I recognized the hamburgers immediately. I saw a bunch of crusty balls, a long piece of meat (which reminded me of a dick hehe) and another crusty thing.

Nick went for the crusty balls, of course.

“What’s this?” he asked curiously. Before he got an answer, he already stuffed the ball in his mouth.

After a few seconds his face lit up. “Oh mwy Gawd!” he said, his mouth full of whatever that stuff was.

“It’s called ‘bitterballen’, better translated as ‘bitterballs’," Isabel explained.

Nick covered his mouth as he burst in laughter. Or so, he tried to. Instead he choked on his ‘bitterball’.

I grabbed one and bit one half off. It was filled with some mushy meat. Like, really mushy. And it was good.

I stuffed the other half in my mouth and sighed in delight.

Erik patted on Nick’s back and handed him a glass of water. Nick took it in appreciation and downed the glass in two big gulps.

“And this,” Isabel said when picking up the meat dick, “is called a ‘frikandel’. I have no idea how to translate it. I always call it a horse dick. They’re not as big as real horse dicks though, but it’s a funny nickname.”

Once again, Nick cracked up, without any food in his mouth this time. I tried to muffle it but couldn’t help but crack up as well. It told you it looked like a dick!

“It’s stuffed with meat. I’m not gonna tell you what, otherwise you won’t want to try it anymore,” she said as she put one on Nick’s plate and handed one over to me. I took it and wrapped my full hand around it as I grinned at what I was portraying.

Nick looked at me with a smirk, until Kenza smacked my hand and I dropped the horse dick on my plate. “Ouch!”

“We have kids here!” she whispered. She wasn’t mad, she did smile as she put another horse dick on her plate.

I took my fork and knife and started cutting off a piece and put it in my mouth without hesitating. It’s meat, so should be good, right?

And once again loved it. Damn, these Dutch people had some great food!

“This thing is called a ‘kroket’. It’s about the same as the bitterballs but bigger and longer,” she said as she held one out to Nick.

I saw Nick swallow when she said the combination of ‘bigger and longer’. If I were sitting next to him now, I’d smack the back of his head so hard.

Man, that guy’s worse than me.

“And one for you.” She handed me one… eh… I forgot the word already. A big and long crusty meat thing. I took a bite.

“I wof it!” I said and happily took another bite. Damn, why don’t they have these in the US?

“Me twoo!” Nick said, his mouth also stuffed with crusty meat stuff.

The others laughed.

The smallest little guy said something what looked like he was complaining.

“I’m sorry if we speak Dutch inbetween. This guy is complaining that we speak too much English. They can’t understand,” Kenza said, smiling at Nick and me.

“However, this guy,” she said as she pointed to the tallest of them, “is in his second year of learning English.”

“Isn’t he still supposed to be in elementary school?”

“He is. They are being taught English at the second to last grade and the last grade of elementary school. Just the basics.”

“Amazing,” Nick said surprised. “Just basics, huh?” Then he turned to the tallest one.

“What is your name?” he said extra slow.

“Richard,” the tallest little guy answered.

Nick looked at him with eyes wide and mouth open.

“How old are you?” I asked friendly.

“I am ten years old,” he said in the cutest accent.

“Wow! Well done! High-five kid!” I said as I raised my hand. He understood that and high-fived me. Or he just knew the gesture meant a high-five. Either way, I was still impressed.

Erik and Kenza both looked proud. Richard beamed.

“And what is your name?” Nick turned to the smallest, and apparently youngest one.

His face screwed up in thought at first. Richard muttered something in his ear. “Stan!” he replied.

“You cheated!” Nick said and pointed at Richard. The little guy looked confused. He wasn’t that far at English yet.

“He doesn’t understand, dude,” I said.

“Dude,” Richard said whereupon Stan repeated it. Then they both went on saying ‘dude’ a thousand times while bouncing their seats.

“Boys,” Erik gave a warning look. They seemed to understand that word as they quieted down and focused back on their horse dick.

Oh… that sounds terribly wrong. Sorry!

Dinner continued with lots of chatter and laughter. Nick and I were still cracking up about the horse dick. Isabel could just remain Nick from putting two bitterballs under each side of the horse dick. (So, it would look like an actual dick, you know?) Hey, I forgot the original name!

Anyway, it felt really good, sitting there around the table, like one big family. Having a normal dinner. Like average people did. Like people who had time to have a dinner like this.

Either way, my assignment didn’t bother me anymore at all. With this family, I should be able to survive that for one month.

However, I was afraid it would be hard to say goodbye once that month was over.

Nick

The alarm clock went off. I smashed my hand on it as one eye opened just half. I could see the numbers vaguely on the alarm clock. I groaned. It was 7.00 am. Way too early for Nick.

I turned on my other side, now facing the wall. I closed my eyes and drifted off to sleep.

Five minutes later the alarm went off again. I smashed my hand on it once again and turned back around.

Again, five minutes later, I heard the alarm again.

"NICK!" I heard AJ shout next to me.

"Wha?" I said groggily.

"Turn that damn alarm off and get the fuck up!" he seethed.

I sighed dramatically. "But it's Monday."

"So? Usually, at this time you're already dressed and good to go. Quit complaining and get up so I can sleep."

I mimicked him in a whiny, girly voice and finally swung my legs over the bed. I turned the alarm completely off and stretched my arms.

Ten minutes later, I came downstairs all dressed and well. I already saw Isabel sitting on the couch with a plate with two slices of toast, watching tv.

"Good morning," I said while rubbing the sleep out of my eyes.

"Good morning to you too, that took you long," she said as she took a bite. "Bread's on the sink in the kitchen. You can use the toaster to make toast or just make a sandwich. I put sandwich filling on the sink as well. Take how much you want."

I nodded and walked into the kitchen. I felt like having toast so I took two slices out of the bag and shoved them into the toaster, pulling the handle down. I waited for a few minutes when my two slices came back up, all brown and crispy.

I turned around to see what I could put on top of the toast. I moved my head to the right as I saw a weird box of, what looked like, chocolate sprinkles.

"Isabel?" I shouted from the kitchen.

A few seconds later, Isabel came walking in. "Yeah?"

"What's this?" I said as I grabbed the box and showed it to her.

She laughed. "It's chocolate sprinkles. We call it 'hagelslag'."

My eyebrows rose at the way she prounounced the 'g'. It sounded strange. To be honest, Dutch g's were pretty ugly. But I wouldn't tell her that.

"So... you put chocolate on bread?" I said.

"You guys got chocolate spread too, right?" she replied.

"Well, yeah. But this looks like candy," I said as I eyed the box.

"It's chocolate. Just like chocolate spread. It's not that weird," she shrugged as she moved back into the living room.

I put the box down and grabbed a jar of strawberry jam. While fixing my breakfast, I couldn't help but stare at the chocolate sprinkles. I know Isabel's right but still... chocolate sprinkles! I still see it as candy.

And it's still weird to put candy on bread and take it for breakfast.

-----------------

I sat in the bus next to Isabel with my bag. Isabel forgot to mention I had to make some sandwiches for lunch at school. I had looked weird at her.

"School doesn't make expansive lunches, like in the USA. We don't get a warm meal. We have to bring our own. Most people just bring bread and some fruit. But school does sell sandwiches, snacks, drinks, yoghurt and stuff like that. There are vending machines with stuff like Mars and Snickers. There's a vending machine for coffee and soup as well, so you don't have to bring your own lunch. If you don't, you have to bring money to buy food here. That's why I always bring my own lunch. I do buy a sandwich and a can of energy drink sometimes, though."

I felt weird fixing my lunch. I had asked how many slices I had to prepare. She said she usually took three slices plus a small cup of fruit yoghurt. You could get plastic spoons at school.

The bus trip took about half an hour. I thought Holland was the country of cycling but Isabel had just laughed when I mentioned that, and said the city her school was located was too far to cycle to. It would take about one and a half hour to get here by bike.

I'm glad we're taking the bus.

Isabel had already bought a pass so I could travel by bus for an entire month. I just had to show the pass to the bus driver and I could step in.

As we were talking about the differences between our countries, the bus arrived at our bus stop sooner than I thought.

We got out as we stood in front of a huge building. This school looked like a university!

"This is your school?" I said, my mouth agape.

She chuckled. "No, of course not. I'm not going to a university. My school's over there," she said as she pointed to the right. I saw a school that was still big but lots smaller than this big guy over here.

We walked a short distance to the school. We had to take the steps downstairs in order to reach the entrance. I looked around me as I saw tons of young people standing on the square. Young people as in, aging between 16 to, let's say, 20 years old. I suck at guessing ages.

And here I was. A 30 year old exchange student. Technically, I'm not a real student (thank God). Just for this month.

I expected some girls to yell "Oh my God, it's Nick Carter!" and run up to me to ask for hugs, pictures and autographs.

Nothing. Absolutely nothing.

Isabel saw me looking around surprised.

"As far as I know there aren't any Backstreet Boys fans here neither do they know you guys are still around. You're pretty much safe here."

I sighed relieved. I could actually walk around here like a normal man!

Two sliding doors opened as we walked inside. We came into a small hall. I saw a stone stairway in front of me.

"We have to go here," she said as she opened a door to our right.

We came into a huge hall. I saw groups of people gathered around several tables. On the other side of the hall there was a kitchen. I saw sandwiches, several drinks and dairy products like yoghurt and milk displayed on a counter. We were in the cafeteria.

I followed after Isabel as she walked to a big table nearest to the kitchen.

She greeted them and said something in Dutch afterwhich she pointed at me.

I had no idea what she said. For me, it went like this: "Blahblahblah yaddayaddayadda Nick."

I supposed she just introduced me, so I greeted them and waved.

A girl with long light-brown hair stared wide-eyed at me and then said something to Isabel.

"Please, speak English when Nick is near," Isabel said.

Thank you.

"I'm sorry. I said, you looked a lot better than I thought. Of course, I had no idea how you looked like now. I only remember the Backstreet Boys from their early years," the brown haired girl said in a perfect British accent. I thought she was Dutch?

Isabel took a chair next to another girl and shove the chair to her other side backwards.

I sat down on it and looked around. Only girls. Pretty girls.

Maybe studying for executive secretary for a month wouldn't be that bad at all.

"Lemme introduce you to my friends," Isabel said and went mentioning every girl's name. Of course, I only remembered the name of the girl with the flawless British accent; Kate. I sucked at remembering names so I was glad I could remember at least one name.

"Are there any guys in your class?" I asked to the whole group.

"We've got one guy; Sean,"

Two girls sighed dreamily.

"Sean?" I asked.

"He's one of the most popular guys in school. Almost every girl has a crush on him. Like Shantelle and Mia do," Isabel said.

"Do not!" Shantelle or Mia said.

"Do too!" Kate replied.

Shantelle or Mia glared at Kate.

After 15 minutes of the Nick interview, a small girl with short dark brown hair got up. "It's time to go!"

We all got up and gathered our stuff. I stayed close to Isabel. Of course, I had talked to some of the other girls as well, but Isabel was still the coolest out of all.

"What do we get first?" I asked Isabel as we walked up on the first stairway.

"English class!" a girl, with brown hair and blonde highlights with way too much makeup on, said and came to walk on my other side.

"Great," I smiled friendly.

For the rest of the walk to the classroom, the makeup doll kept talking next to me with a flirty smile on her fake tanned face.

Great. She was, how old? Eighteen or so? And she was after me Usually, I don't mind girls flirting with me. Not when they're my age. They have to be at least 21. This girl was practically a teen.

We arrived at the classroom and went inside.

Isabel took my hand and quickly pulled me with her to a table in the back of the room.

"Why all that haste?" I asked as I put my bag on the table in front of me.

"Shantelle is so flirting with you. Can't you see?"

So Shantelle was the makeup doll. I could remember that.

"I did," I said as we both sat down. "Isn't she a little too young?"

She snorted. "She sure is. She's eighteen.

Hmm.. I guess I was getting better at guessing ages.

"And she's the dumbest girl from the whole class."

I laughed. I could already tell the first time I saw her.

"Besides, you are my guest and responsibility. Oh geez, that sounds like I'm your nanny," she shook her head. "Well, you know what I mean, right?"

I smiled. "I do."

A woman in her late 40's came into the classroom and quieted the class as she sat behind her desk. She scanned the room when her eyes stopped at my face. Her serious face turned friendly and even excited.

She got up right when she saw me and started talking, in English I might add, with big gestures. "Ladies and Sean, this month is going to be a very special month. As I told you, we will be having a special guest in our class for this month. You see, Isabel's a big fan of the Backstreet Boys."

Isabel groaned as nearly the entire class looked at us. Some girls looked shocked and started laughing softly while looking at her.

Did they know they were also practically laughing at me now? Did they even know who I was?

"The Backstreet Boys are participating in a project. In this project, all kinds of artists will visit one of their fans and live their life. One of their fans will take them to their work or to their school. Isabel sent the Backstreet Boys a message and they picked her. Next to her you see Nick Carter, member of the Backstreet Boys!" Then she cheered and clapped.

Alright... she just cheered. Nothing weird about that.

The girls who were first laughing at us, were now staring amazed at me.

"Nick and Isabel, why don't you come up over here?" the teacher said.

"Of course," I said politely as I got up to walk forward. Isabel was a bit reluctant at first but, eventually, followed me to the front.

Tons ot teeny eyes were staring at me in fascinations. I saw Sean too. He studied me carefully. I felt a bit uneasy. Pretty ridiculous 'cause they were mostly teens. Then I saw Shantelle smiling her way too white smile and blinking her thick black eyelashes at me.

Maybe it wasn't so ridiculous to feel uneasy.

"Isabel is going to guide Nick through this entire month. Nick, why don't you tell a little something about your job?"

I sighed but started to tell. Nobody interrupted me. They all just listened. Good 'cause I wanted to get through this as soon as possible.

After my speech, the teacher clapped again. After me, Isabel had to tell what she thought about this and about me being there, and about her being a fan. Of course, she couldn't leave the fact that AJ was there too. When she told about AJ, she had to tell about the job he was assigned to do. Some girls actually looked jealous, knowing that Isabel had two Backstreet Boys staying over at her home for an entire month.

After a long twenty minutes, we finally could go back to our seats.

"That was so embarrassing," Isabel whispered to me as she leant her head in her hands.

"Why?" I asked.

"I had to tell about my fan being! I didn't want to gush too much about you guys. And the whole class was looking at me!"

"It wasn't that bad. You did a good job. It's nice to know that you think AJ and I are funny," I smiled.

She shook her head while mumbling to herself.

The rest of the class was uneventfull. The teacher seemd somewhat nervous when she wrote English sentences down on the whiteboard, now that there was a native English speaker in class.

When she ordered the class to answer grammar queastions in their workbook, Isabel cheated by asking me for help even though the teacher told her not to. We giggled mischievously as we hoped the teacher wouldn't catch us.

When English class ended, we went on to Economics. Isabel told me she sucked at Economics. I told her I would help her out, and I did.

Funny fact: the Economics teacher is called Mr. Martini. Apparently, he's part Italian. But still... Martini?

Shantelle tried to get me to sit next to her but I politely declinded her offer and said I had to stay with Isabel. She looked like she wanted to shoot daggers at her.

Isabel smirked triumphantly at Shantelle. I had a feeling those two weren't the best of friends. I think that was an understatement.

For the entire day, we had six classes with lunch inbetween. Isabel did a really good job by translating all the Dutch things the other teachers said, to me. Of course, not all teachers were good at English.

And may I say, not all the students were good at English either. And I think most of them didn't feel like hearing and speaking English all day, let alone for a whole month. So, I guess I didn't get to know the whole class.

Isabel told me we would be having German class tomorrow and tomorrow you could get fries for lunch. There were fries every Tuesday and Wednesday, so I could take fries the day after tomorrow as well.

I couldn't wait!